A Spooky Interview with C.E. O'Conaing

Samhain Screams will be released on the 17th of October—but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99. You can also add the anthology to your Goodreads list. Our aim is quite simply to make Halloween 2025 the spookiest ever with this anthology featuring twenty scary tales handpicked by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost. Do you dare peek into the troubled minds of our contributing authors?

Hi C.E.,

What does Halloween mean to you and how do you celebrate it?

Halloween’s always been a big holiday for me, as I was surprisingly sensitive to scares as a kid. I remember being terrified of an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, so Halloween was a fun way to get introduced to horror tropes and themes in a way that was more fun than overwhelming—even for a bona fide scaredy cat like my childhood self. Thank God for The Treehouse of Horror!

Without giving too much away, is there a story behind your contribution to this anthology?

The final image from this story, and actually, the entire climax, came to me in a nightmare just as I was falling to sleep. Without spoiling anything, all I’ll say is that I woke up to a notepad where I’d jotted down a description of that last image and, devoid of context, it creeped the shit out of me!

What are you working on at the moment? What are you writing?

I’m currently working on a handful of other short stories, some horror and some in the sci-fi/fantasy vein. One of these, Sentimental Value, is forthcoming in Crystal Lake Publishing’s Memento Mori: Book One, so look out for that in the near future!

Thanks for playing along!

A Spooky Interview with Brian Moreland

Samhain Screams will be released on the 17th of October—but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99. You can also add the anthology to your Goodreads list. Our aim is quite simply to make Halloween 2025 the spookiest ever with this anthology featuring twenty scary tales handpicked by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost. Do you dare peek into the troubled minds of our contributing authors?

Hi Brian,

Do you have a favourite Halloween tale?

I have three that are equally thrilling horror movies. First, I saw John Carpenter’s classic Halloween when I was just a kid in 1978. Halloween is the ultimate horror film for my favorite holiday. Micheal’s creepy mask, his eerie silence as he stalked a normal-looking neighborhood in Haddonfield, and that Michael didn’t die were uncanny. He became an authentic bogeyman on the screen. Halloween III: Season of the Witch was an odd diversion from the Michael Myers slasher format, but that movie was so dark and strange that I found it unsettling during my first viewing; and when I watched it again years later, Season of the Witch still creeped me out. My third favorite Halloween tale would be the horror anthology film Trick r’ Treat. This movie of interwoven, comic-book-style stories was just plain fun. The movie captures the essence of Halloween with a number of creepy stories. I also love Sam, the pumpkin-headed boy, as the mascot. What I loved most about these three movies was the first time I watched them, they were original, unpredictable, and offered some genuine scares.

Would you share something about yourself that your readers don’t know yet?

Before I began my career as an author, I spent 25 years working as a video editor of corporate videos, documentaries, and TV commercials. I traveled all over the globe with a video crew. Highlights included a gig in Paris, three trips to Hong Kong, and two jobs with the USO at U.S. military bases in Baghdad, Iraq. I even survived a mortar bombing and got to take refuge with troops inside Saddam Hussein’s palace. While freelancing on the side, I also edited and designed books for authors. My dream has always been to be an author of horror and thrillers. I’ve been writing fiction since I was nineteen. I attempted writing many manuscripts in my teens and twenties. After college, it took me 14 years to finally break into the publishing business with my first novel, Shadows in the Mist. I have since published over 10 books and numerous short stories.

What are you working on at the moment? What are you writing?

For the past two years, I’ve been writing novellas, novelettes, and short stories with the intention of releasing two collections, beginning in Spring/Summer 2026. One collection is entirely folk horror stories, headlined by a detective thriller novella. The second collection is a mix of horror short stories and novelettes that I’ve written over a span of 30 years.

Where can we find you online?

You can find my bio and all my books available on Amazon.com.

Thanks for playing along!

It’s been fun. Happy Halloween!

A Spooky Interview with Darren Todd

Samhain Screams will be released on the 17th of October—but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99. You can also add the anthology to your Goodreads list. Our aim is quite simply to make Halloween 2025 the spookiest ever with this anthology featuring twenty scary tales handpicked by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost. Do you dare peek into the troubled minds of our contributing authors?

Hi Darren,

What does Halloween mean to you and how do you celebrate it?

Halloween is my second favorite holiday; Christmas still wins out but not by much. The whole month of October means a few things related to horror: more conventions, a good lineup of horror in books and cinema, and finally a time to break out the hoodies.

I have a teenage son, so I have a ready-made excuse to work on costumes, to prep some cosplay for horror conventions, and – of course – to plot where he and his friends will go trick or treating.

Will you be donning a scary costume this Halloween?

I certainly feel the license to. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how trick or treating has grown more age inclusive. By my son’s age, I would have gotten some looks and probably been outright asked whether I thought I was too old to go out. Thus, I ventured forth alongside friends, armed with toilet paper instead of a costume. Now, though, dressing up is for any age, perhaps thanks in no small part to cosplay. If a Halloween block party manifests, I would 100% dress up.

Without giving too much away, is there a story behind your contribution to this anthology?

Most definitely. Other than the supernatural elements, it’s autobiographical. So was the setting, though the actual story is a transplant: the latter half happened at summer camp, not in my suburban neighborhood. I actually wrote it as a camp story originally, and – as stories sometimes do – it failed to come together, so I was glad to have the chance to reimagine and rewrite it from scratch as a Halloween tale.

Do you have a favourite Halloween tale?

I hate to reference a film instead of the written word, but – in a novel – Halloween is likely to be a scene and not the entire story. But, in film, Night of the Demons. I watched it way too young, which is really the only way to watch scary movies. It still holds up pretty well, especially in terms of practical FX and make-up, which still beat out CGI by a wide margin, in my opinion.

Would you share something about yourself that your readers don’t know yet?

I’ve been writing a long time, and I also play video games, which means my understanding of how things work is grossly distorted. So when I picked up tinkering with electronics as a hobby, it grew quickly apparent just how sped up and simplified such work is when portrayed in media. I’m humbled almost daily by this hobby, the mastery of which is usually just a passing character quirk in fiction.

What are you working on at the moment? What are you writing?

I have a second short story collection coming out this Halloween. The titular story, in fact, is a Halloween tale. It’s entitled Cul-de-Sacrifice and Other Stories, and will be available on Amazon and Audible. That’s taking most of my time at the moment, though I’m always kicking around a novel-length work. I’ve been crafting short stories for decades, so it’ll be a difficult but hopefully fulfilling task.

Where can we find you online?

I try to keep up my Amazon author page as well as my profile on Goodreads.

Thanks for playing along!

A Spooky Interview with Martin Livings

Samhain Screams will be released on the 17th of October—but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99. You can also add the anthology to your Goodreads list. Our aim is quite simply to make Halloween 2025 the spookiest ever with this anthology featuring twenty scary tales handpicked by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost. Do you dare peek into the troubled minds of our contributing authors?

Hi Martin,

What does Halloween mean to you and how do you celebrate it?

It might sound a bit weird, considering the collection we’re doing this for, but Halloween isn’t a thing in our house. It didn’t really exist in my family neighbourhood when I was growing up, and always felt like an American import, despite its more Celtic origins. So generally speaking, I’d celebrate it with a quiet night in watching a good horror movie, most commonly the original Halloween by John Carpenter. Hard to beat the classics!

Will you be donning a scary costume this Halloween?

Nope, but if I did, I’d just dress in my normal clothes, but holding a printout of my yearly earnings from Amazon for my books that are sitting on there frantically not selling. I think they should sell that costume at Spirit Halloween, called “Author Making No Money”. Is there anything scarier?

Without giving too much away, is there a story behind your contribution to this anthology?

Just that kids are scary! ‘Nuff said!

Where can we find you online?

I’m around on Instagram and Facebook, a quick search usually finds me, though I barely use these for promotion or anything actually constructive like that, more just for memes and silliness. But my books are available on Amazon, and there’s a general information page on Wordpress, if anyone’s REALLY interested!

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Martin-Livings/author/B006HFOWPQ

https://martinlivings.wordpress.com/

Thanks for playing along!

Samhain Screams Competition

COMPETITION TIME!

Want to have some original art to celebrate the spooky season?

Artist and SAMHAIN SCREAMS co-editor Greg Chapman is giving you the chance to win this original painting, “Mr. Death and the Pumpkin” 

To go into the draw to win this original painting simply pre-order a copy of SAMHAIN SCREAMS in digital format and send proof of purchase to us at blackbeaconbooks@gmail.com

The winner will be chosen on October 17

GOOD LUCK!

A Spooky Interview with Arthur Goodhill

Samhain Screams will be released on the 17th of October—but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99. You can also add the anthology to your Goodreads list. Our aim is quite simply to make Halloween 2025 the spookiest ever with this anthology featuring twenty scary tales handpicked by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost. Do you dare peek into the troubled minds of our contributing authors?

Hi Arthur,

What does Halloween mean to you and how do you celebrate it?

Being Irish, Halloween has always been one of my favourite times of year. When I was younger, we celebrated by trick or treating, then as we grew out of that, friends and I were building and burning bonfires(and possibly some underage drinking) but now I like to enjoy it by watching some scary movies and reading some chilling tales.

Without giving too much away, is there a story behind your contribution to this anthology?

It spawned from something my girlfriend said to me about ‘thin places’ and the Irish beliefs surrounding Oíche Shamhna or Halloween. Only recently I had heard of an old irish tradition of walking on the road on Halloween night to make room for the dead who walked the paths. Following these stories and a trip to the Slieve Bloom mountains when I was a teenager, the story was born.

What are you working on at the moment? What are you writing?

I am currently working on my first novel. It’s a bit of a departure from anything I’ve written before, steering away from horror and leaning more into the realm of fantasy. Beyond that, I’m always tinkering away at some short stories, poems or whatever pops into my head.

Where can we find you online?

You can find me mainly on Instagram, using the handle arthurgoodhill. Hope to see some of you there!

Thanks for playing along!

A Spooky Interview with DJ Tyrer

Samhain Screams will be released on the 17th of October—but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99. You can also add the anthology to your Goodreads list. Our aim is quite simply to make Halloween 2025 the spookiest ever with this anthology featuring twenty scary tales handpicked by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost. Do you dare peek into the troubled minds of our contributing authors?

Hi DJ,

Without giving too much away, is there a story behind your contribution to this anthology?

The Knock is part of my Black and Red Mythos of loosely-connected stories, which had its very first stirrings in a nightmare I had many years ago. Some elements (somewhat exaggerated) are drawn from the housing estate where I live, combined with accounts of sink estates in London.

What are you working on at the moment? What are you writing?

I’ve just finished putting together a collection of Lovecraftian poetry, which should be out shortly from Island of Wak-Wak, called Madness Rides the Star-wind. Now, aside from a few stories and poems I hope to complete and submit to forthcoming anthologies, I have a few bigger projects that I’m working on.

The first is a Yellow Mythos novella that I’ve been promising for… a number of years. If I tell you it’s called Perfect Yellow, you can probably guess what inspired it; unfortunately, I found myself cleaving rather too closely to that inspiration, meaning I had to scrap what I had and start again in order to avoid it becoming a rip-off rather than a thematic homage. That cost me my momentum and I ended up distracted with other things, but it is currently top of my list to resume work on.

I’ve also got a couple of fantasy novel ideas that I’ve been working on the backgrounds and plots for, as well as a couple of ideas for role-playing games that might actually see print at some point.

Where can we find you online?

The best place to look is my author website at https://djtyrer.blogspot.co.uk/ which has the latest on my published writing. I also have an author page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DJTyrerwriter/

Thanks for playing along!

A Spooky Interview with Mia Dalia

Samhain Screams will be released on the 17th of October—but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99. You can also add the anthology to your Goodreads list. Our aim is quite simply to make Halloween 2025 the spookiest ever with this anthology featuring twenty scary tales handpicked by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost. Do you dare peek into the troubled minds of our contributing authors?

Hi Mia, 

What does Halloween mean to you and how do you celebrate it? 

It’s my favorite holiday of the year. Our town has a very famous avenue that goes all out every October. On the 31st, I can be usually found there. Though I’m always up for a good costume party.

Will you be donning a scary costume this Halloween?

Absolutely. My wife likes to make this challenging, so she usually tells me what she wants to dress up as the morning off, and then I get creative. I prefer homemade costumes to storebought, so it’s always fun to see what I can come up with.

Without giving too much away, is there a story behind your contribution to this anthology?

Oh, yes. The Last Pumpkin is actually almost entirely a true story—except for the horror bits. There was indeed a fabulous little pumpkin patch waiting in our backyard when we moved into our new house. And being city folk, we have no idea what it was. Hilarity and amazement ensued. And then I decided to fictionalize it by throwing in a killer twist.

Do you have a favourite Halloween tale?

I should have one. I don’t really. I’m still looking. Though I keep writing my own takes on it. I did a short novel last year set entirely on October 31st that I’m inordinately fond of. And just the other week I wrote another Halloween-themed short story. 

Would you share something about yourself that your readers don’t know yet?

I’m a very private person. If you follow me on socials, you won’t find anything about my life / wife / house / meals / pets / political and personal opinions / etc. But I do put a lot of myself into my work. The best way to get to know me is to read between the lines of my stories ;)

Where can we find you online?

https://daliaverse.wixsite.com/author

https://linktr.ee/daliaverse

Thanks for playing along! 

A Spooky Interview with Jacy Morris

Samhain Screams will be released on the 17th of October—but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99. You can also add the anthology to your Goodreads list. Our aim is quite simply to make Halloween 2025 the spookiest ever with this anthology featuring twenty scary tales handpicked by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost. Do you dare peek into the troubled minds of our contributing authors?

Hi Jacy,

What does Halloween mean to you and how do you celebrate it?

Halloween, to me, is the embodiment of everything I loved as a child, from the movies to the costumes to the candy. Sometimes I'll have a costume party with trivia, contests, and plenty of libations to the spirit of Halloween, but other times, I'll sit on the couch and put in my Halloween trio of movies. I typically start with Rocky Horror Picture Show, follow it up with Dawn of the Dead '78, and then finish it off with Trick 'r Treat. Either way, for twenty-four hours, I feel like a kid again.

Will you be donning a scary costume this Halloween?

It depends on which route I go. If I throw a party, and Halloween is on a Friday this year, so it's likely, I'll throw on some costume or other. I usually go for something topical and cheap as a costume. But you never know.

Without giving too much away, is there a story behind your contribution to this anthology?

For Indian Corn, I tried to take everything I love about Halloween and give it an Indigenous spin. There's no deeper meaning to it. I just played with the things I love to create a classic Halloween vibe.

Do you have a favourite Halloween tale?

My favorite Halloween tale is definitely Trick 'r Treat. I also love the classic Halloween movie with Jamie Lee Curtis. But Trick 'r Treat has the most Halloween-like vibes for me. It perfectly encapsulates the feeling of anything possibly happening at any moment that I felt as a child out in the night knocking on strangers' doors.

What are you working on at the moment? What are you writing?

I'm currently working on This Rotten World 12: Burn It All Down, the twelfth entry in my popular zombie series. I'm also revising an anti-billionaire horror novel that is off the walls bonkers. In addition, I'm trying to sell four completed manuscripts, one of which is a fully fledged Halloween-themed novel!

Where can we find you online?

I have my seldom updated website, jacymorris.com and I can be found on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. Just do a search for Jacy Morris Author, and I'll pop up.

Thanks for playing along!

A Spooky Interview with Matthew R. Davis

Samhain Screams will be released on the 17th of October—but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99. You can also add the anthology to your Goodreads list. Our aim is quite simply to make Halloween 2025 the spookiest ever with this anthology featuring twenty scary tales handpicked by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost. Do you dare peek into the troubled minds of our contributing authors?

Hi Matthew,

What does Halloween mean to you and how do you celebrate it?

Like many people, I see it as a celebration of all things dark and spooky, so I love it! I could put together a book solely consisting of stories I wrote that are set on Halloween – the latest, even more recent than “Hauntology” (which I wrote in April this year), is a seasonal-themed slasher for another anthology. My partner Meg (the award-winning cover artist Red Wallflower) and I like to do something special for Halloween, even if it’s just staying in with a pumpkin pie she’s baked and some horror flicks. In the past, we’ve gone out to cinema screenings or goth events, and two years ago, we carved pumpkins together for the first time (see accompanying pic). Naturally, hers was great and mine looked terrible.

Will you be donning a scary costume this Halloween?

I doubt it. I don’t really dress up for it, unless you count that year I wore a skirt and steel-capped boots to DecaDanse.

Without giving too much away, is there a story behind your contribution to this anthology?

I’ve talked about the tale’s genesis in other promotional materials for the book, so what else can I say? Well… one of the central images in “Hauntology” is an advertising photo featuring a smiling woman. That image comes straight from a 7/11 on Hindley Street here in Adelaide whose window signage really needs to be updated. In fact, Meg and I both took photos of it, entirely independently, because something about it spoke to us… and here it is, given a new and very eerie home…

Do you have a favourite Halloween tale?

Meg and I watch something spooky and/or fun every year – last year, I believe it was Young Frankenstein. But in terms of Halloween stories that have really stuck with me, I’d have to say The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949). It’s a Disney animated short about Ichabod Crane’s run-in with the Headless Horseman that I saw a few times as a child – at school, no less. The chase scene that comprises the last section of the film is fairly intense for a children’s movie! I actually referenced this film in that slasher story I mentioned earlier, though I ended up cutting that line in the edit.

Would you share something about yourself that your readers don’t know yet?

I’ve written at least one song that would make a great addition to any Halloween playlist. Check out “Cemetery Girl”, from Blood Red Renaissance’s debut album Champagne Tragedy. Unlike the left-field rock and metal that dominates that record, this song is a graveyard waltz that opens with an organ sample from The Black Cat (1934) and features me playing theremin and fire extinguisher. I last performed it at the book launch for my first horror collection, If Only Tonight We Could Sleep, in an acoustic variant featuring accordion.

What are you working on at the moment? What are you writing?

I’ve spent this year working on short fiction, turning out some great stuff (including “Hauntology”, if I do say so myself), but now it’s time to turn back to my current novel, which I began in Canberra at Conflux last year. I worked on it every day for two months until other book-editing obligations forced me to put it aside halfway through the first draft, and now I’m keen to read it over and pick up where I left off. It touches on many of my recurring themes – abandoned places, street art, fractured love, loneliness, and punk-rock defiance, to name a few. It’s going to be very heartfelt and very creepy. Its working title is Desolation.

Thanks for playing along!

Photo credit: Red Wallflower

A Spooky Interview with Tom Rimer

Samhain Screams will be released on the 17th of October—but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99. You can also add the anthology to your Goodreads list. Our aim is quite simply to make Halloween 2025 the spookiest ever with this anthology featuring twenty scary tales handpicked by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost. Do you dare peek into the troubled minds of our contributing authors?

Hi Tom,

What does Halloween mean to you and how do you celebrate it?

Halloween is my absolute favorite time (and day) of the year. I typically go all out—from the costumes, to the plastic skeletons strewn about my lawn, to the movies that I'll ritualistically watch, to the annual quest to Spirit Halloween. Something about Halloween just oozes nostalgia and reminds me of times I've most felt myself. To an extent, as an author of horror, I get to celebrate All Hallows all year—but Halloween is the Super Bowl for spooky people like myself.

Will you be donning a scary costume this Halloween?

Well, of course, but— you see—this is serious business and I can't just reveal what that'll be, this early on. Stay tuned.

Without giving too much away, is there a story behind your contribution to this anthology?

I once stumbled across a painting of a clown in a thrift store. Didn't buy it, but that evening I had a nightmare that heavily featured this particular portrait. Like many of my nightmares, this one became fodder for a story.

Do you have a favourite Halloween tale?

So many. Most recently, I read All Hallows—a novel by Christopher Golden. It's set on Halloween night. Couldn't put it down.

Where can we find you online? 

Find me here:

Instagram - @bookishrimer

Blue Sky - @rimertom.bsky.social

www.tomrimerauthor.com

 

A Spooky Interview with Nick Manzolillo

Samhain Screams will be released on the 17th of October—but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99. You can also add the anthology to your Goodreads list. Our aim is quite simply to make Halloween 2025 the spookiest ever with this anthology featuring twenty scary tales handpicked by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost. Do you dare peek into the troubled minds of our contributing authors?

Hi Nick,

What does Halloween mean to you and how do you celebrate it?

Halloween is everything mythical and magical wrapped up into a holiday. Now that I have kids I plan on celebrating it with Trick or Treating (of course) and then a horror movie marathon before bed.

Will you be donning a scary costume this Halloween?

This year is my son’s first Halloween and we’ll be going as cowboys.

Without giving too much away, is there a story behind your contribution to this anthology?

I have written several novels and a few dozen short stories set in the mystical New England beach town of Silverport. I’ve been wanting to explore more about the mermaids featured in those stories and having them culturally clash with Halloween seemed like a great opportunity.

Do you have a favourite Halloween tale?

My favorite Halloween tale is actually the movie Trick R’ Treat, written and directed by Michael Dougherty.

What are you working on at the moment? What are you writing?

Currently, I am editing and pitching a Halloween fantasy novel about a pumpkin carver with magical abilities.

Where can we find you online?

You can find links to some of my short stories on and novels on nickmanzolillo.com. You can also find me on Facebook and Instagram.

Thanks for playing along!

A Spooky Interview with Em Starr

Samhain Screams will be released on the 17th of October—but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99. You can also add the anthology to your Goodreads list. Our aim is quite simply to make Halloween 2025 the spookiest ever with this anthology featuring twenty scary tales handpicked by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost. Do you dare peek into the troubled minds of our contributing authors?

Hi Em,

What does Halloween mean to you and how do you celebrate it?

Growing up as an Aussie kid in the 80's, the closest I got to Halloween was watching Michael Myers on Betamax. I had no real understanding of the season, other than the superficial elements like pumpkinheads and trick or treating... and the idea of trick or treating conjured images of angry adults who thought it was appropriate to scream at kids in costumes to stop the neighbourhood from becoming too "Americanized". It was many years later that I learned the true roots of Halloween (Samhain). The cycle of life and death, the thinning of the veil; things us horror lovers tend to think about all year-round. Suffice to say, I'm not so much into the costumes and candy as I am the deeper, quieter meaning. That's why this Halloween, you'll find me celebrating quietly at home, writing horror, reading horror, and watching Halloween films with my dogs.   

Without giving too much away, is there a story behind your contribution to this anthology?

Public transport terrifies me. I am crazy hyper-vigilant, and something as simple as riding a train leaves me exhausted from endless "what-if" scenarios. What if this person beside me is a bad person? What horrible secrets might they be keeping? What awful things could they have done? Originally, I wrote this story based on that premise—the vulnerability of sharing confined spaces with strangers—but it felt incomplete. So I rewrote it and set the story on Halloween night, when the physical and spiritual worlds are permeable, and it all fell into place.    

Would you share something about yourself that your readers don’t know yet?

I am obsessed with the 1987 film The Lost Boys. I can recount the entire script, word-for-word, as well as the killer soundtrack. It's less about fangirling and more about the profound connection I had with it as a kid. Because of that film, I had an epiphany at twelve years of age that changed me forever. My real name is Em, but the "Starr" part of my name is a homage to TLB.

What are you working on at the moment? What are you writing?

I am taking the rest of this year to finish my debut novel, Cactus. It's a pearler and I can't wait to share it! After that, I'll be penning more short stories, with a view to putting together a collection of Coastal Chills.

Thanks for playing along! 

A Spooky Interview with Kevin M. Folliard

Samhain Screams will be released on the 17th of October—but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99. You can also add the anthology to your Goodreads list. Our aim is quite simply to make Halloween 2025 the spookiest ever with this anthology featuring twenty scary tales handpicked by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost. Do you dare peek into the troubled minds of our contributing authors?

Hi Kevin,

What does Halloween mean to you and how do you celebrate it?
 
October is a big month for my partner and I. We have costume parties with friends and do our best to cram in as many scary movies as possible. My favorite tradition is attending Chicago’s 24-hour Music Box of Horrors movie marathon with my friends.
 
Without giving too much away, is there a story behind your contribution to this anthology?
 
Every October, I aim to draft at least one new Halloween story. Vengeance of Halloween (VoH) is my good-natured jab at the glut of delightful Halloween pop-ups that spring up like clockwork every August. It's also an homage to some of my favorite horror films such as Halloween III: Season of the Witch and the Universal Monsters.
 
Would you share something about yourself that your readers don’t know yet?
 
I love to travel, and I’ve been to all 50 U.S. states!
 
What are you working on at the moment? What are you writing?
 
I’m a big dinosaur fan, and I have a number of dinosaur sci-fi adventure stories set in a shared world called New Pangea. You can find some of these stories as singles, included in various sci-fi anthologies, but I’m currently in the process of collecting them all together in an anthology titled Tales from New Pangea, which should be available in 2026.
 
Where can we find you online?
 
www.KevinFolliard.com

Thanks for playing along! 

A Spooky Interview with Epiphany Ferrell

Samhain Screams will be released on the 17th of October—but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99. You can also add the anthology to your Goodreads list. Our aim is quite simply to make Halloween 2025 the spookiest ever with this anthology featuring twenty scary tales handpicked by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost. Do you dare peek into the troubled minds of our contributing authors?

Hi Epiphany,

What does Halloween mean to you and how do you celebrate it?

My favorite holiday of course! I live pretty far out in the country so we don’t get trick-or-treaters. To prepare for Halloween in recent years, my husband and I have taken the door-to-door concept to the back roads where we live in southern Illinois. We’ll blast Halloween sound-effects and scary music as we drive around, occasionally letting go of a really good scream at an appropriate moment. Just sharing the Halloween spirit.

Will you be donning a scary costume this Halloween?

I can usually cobble something together from my closet, adding a mask or some other detail from the pop-up Halloween store. My favorite costume from years-gone-by was Werewolf Tamer.

What are you working on at the moment? What are you writing?

I’m working on a folk horror novel, in the rewriting/editing stage. I’m outlining a sequel to that novel, and also a dystopian novel. Always short stories, too.

Where can we find you online?

epiphanyferrell.com and several social media platforms.

Thanks for playing along!

A Spooky Interview with Tom Coombe

Samhain Screams will be released on the 17th of October—but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99. You can also add the anthology to your Goodreads list. Our aim is quite simply to make Halloween 2025 the spookiest ever with this anthology featuring twenty scary tales handpicked by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost. Do you dare peek into the troubled minds of our contributing authors?

Hi Tom,

What does Halloween mean to you and how do you celebrate it?

In the last six years, my significant other and I have established a Halloween tradition: Starting October 1, we watch a horror movie every evening leading up to Halloween.

Without giving too much away, is there a story behind your contribution to this anthology?

There's not really a story, more of an urban legend (a "black van" roaming my neighborhood when I was a kid) combined with an anecdote (a grade school friend trick or treating at a house with a woman in a hospital bed in the living room).

What are you working on at the moment? What are you writing?

At the moment, I'm working on a folk horror story based around a (completely made up) splinter sect of the Catholic church.

Where can we find you online?

The best place to interact with me is on BlueSky, where I'm @CalmTomb.

Thanks for playing along!

A Spooky Interview with Daniel Fox

Samhain Screams will be released on the 17th of October—but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99. You can also add the anthology to your Goodreads list. Our aim is quite simply to make Halloween 2025 the spookiest ever with this anthology featuring twenty scary tales handpicked by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost. Do you dare peek into the troubled minds of our contributing authors?

Hi Daniel,

What does Halloween mean to you and how do you celebrate it?

One of the things that makes Halloween great is that it is a celebration of creativity. And it doesn’t matter how big or small your celebration is. Want to throw on a black vest and call yourself Han Solo ? Cool. Want to build an elaborate costume that takes months of effort and planning ? Also cool. How much or how little you do is up to you, and it’s all fun.

As for me, I like to take a wander around my neighbourhood and see how people have transformed their homes, and how excited little kids are as they run from one home to the next. It’s a good feeling.

Would you share something about yourself that your readers don’t know yet?

I think cats are beautiful but I won’t pick one up. They’re living bags of knives.

What are you working on at the moment? What are you writing?

I haven’t really written many short stories in the past. So this year I thought I’d give them a whirl and it has turned out to be a lot of fun. So far this year, six of my stories have been nabbed by various publications, and I’m pretty excited to meet new readers via these happy little bursts of creativity.

Halloween Hall of Fame

Black Beacon Books is horrified to announce our table of contents for Samhain Screams, the anthology that will make Halloween 2025 the spookiest ever! Edited by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost, and featuring cover art by the former, you'll be screaming all night long this samhain! Tell your neighbours not to bother calling the police...

Without further ado, here's our Halloween Hall of Fame! 

The stories are in no particular order at this stage.

Toomie’s Ghost Story - Epiphany Ferrell

Candy Train - Em Starr

Vengeance of Halloween - Kevin M. Folliard

Halloween Under the Sea - Nick Manzolillo

Clyde - Tom Rimer

Hauntology - Matthew R. Davis

Indian Corn - Jacy Morris

The Last Pumpkin - Mia Dalia

The Knock - DJ Tyrer

That Time of Year - Daniel Fox

Where the World is Thin - Arthur Goodhill

We Played the Odds at Whitley - Darren Todd

Whispers - Martin Livings

Sweet Tooth - Brian Moreland

Living Creatures - Elle Jones

The October Shadows - Hannah Baxter

The Revellers of the Rift - Marty Young

The Hollows - C.E. O’Conaing

The Day You Die - S.B. Watson

The Black Van - Tom Coombe

Anthology Announcement: Samhain Screams!

SAMHAIN SCREAMS

Edited by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost 

Halloween. 

So much more than costumes and candy, it’s the time when the veil between our world and the other side is at its thinnest. The hour when dark forces come into the light in search of innocent souls. A time of blood and evil.

Australian Shadows Award-winning and multiple Bram Stoker Award-nominated author and artist Greg Chapman, and acclaimed author Cameron Trost, are seeking new original Halloween tales for this anthology, planned for release in October 2025.

We want memorable, character-driven stories set on, or near, the last night of October. Give us ghosts, serial killers, rituals and monsters, heroes and villains, but most of all give us the true dark side of Halloween - and make it terrifying.

Payment is $50 AUD for stories up to 5,000 words. Contributors will also receive a complimentary print and digital copy.

The anthology will feature original cover art and internal illustrations by co-editor Greg Chapman.

The submissions window opens March 1st and closes midnight May 31st. Send all submissions to samhainscreams@hotmail.com Story submissions should follow the Shunn format.